The Idea: Advertising campaigns can make or break a brand, but if there is one thing that is sure to frustrate millennials it is an inauthentic advertising campaign. Millennials often call marketing campaigns “patronizing”, “condescending” and “tone-deaf.” Do you know how you are perceived?
Not only do millennials know better than any other generation when an advertising campaign is inauthentic, but also they are allergic to it. They actively distance themselves from the products.
Darren Ross, an Executive for Fluent, an Ad Tech agency, writes:
“By the time most brands jump on a popular culture trend in an effort to be funny, these young adults have moved on and brands look foolish for trying.”
Advertising campaigns can make or break a brand, but if there is one thing that is sure to frustrate millennials it is an inauthentic advertising campaign. Millennials often call marketing campaigns “patronizing”, “condescending” and “tone-deaf.”
How are you perceived?
As my 21 year old son shared with me, “I love companies that take the time to personally get to know me, respect me, understand me and avoid invading me with ineffective and intrusive advertising.”
Ross goes on:
“It’s painfully clear to this audience when a brand hasn’t made an effort to know them, and there is little tolerance for the brand that gets the tone, message and approach wrong.”
We all know the feeling of trying to fit in, and we’ve all watched someone work hard to impress, yet fail to connect. In those moments, it is very easy to tell when someone is not trustworthy, honest nor genuine. They are working too hard to gain others approval.
If you are having one-way dialogue, overselling or inauthentic with your millennial consumers, you are trying too hard.
To read more about how to avoid bad marketing techniques, check out Ross’s Wired article here.
